"Thank you so much for understanding, Gemini. You can go back now if you want." Lucy said to her Spirits as they lazily floated in front of her.
"Piri."
"Piri."
The two blue creatures did a cheery little spin, before disappearing back to their realm in a puff of white smoke.
Lucy bit back an amused snigger as she glanced to the man standing stiffly behind her.
She knew he was trying to act like he wasn't even remotely anxious of her Spirit's reactions to him being there. She also knew that there was only one Spirit he needed to be cautious of, and that she was the one who was going to receive the brunt of her wrath. Sure, he'd probably get swept up by the current with her, but she wouldn't be aiming for him.
Would she tell him all of this?
Nope.
It was simply too much fun watching him squirm.
That and she was a little angry with him. And at herself.
It baffled her how easy it was for him to rile her up. To make her so desperate to defend her pride and get him to see that she was right.
It puzzled her and left her ashamed of herself for throwing all self-control by the wayside and getting in his face.
Not only that but she was afraid. Completely terrified that she would have to leave her family, the only family she had. As a Celestial mage, her promises where bound to her magic. If she broke a promise, she'd risk losing it all.
If she couldn't get Lahar to love Fairy Tail, she had two options. Either leave her family, or break her promise and risk losing her Spirits. Both options were painful and soul wrenching. Lucy would much rather die an excruciating death than choose between them.
But how could she get him to love her family, even just a little bit?
He hated them.
She understood to an extent why he hated them so much.
And to an extent she agreed with him. Fairy Tail could be destructive to a fault, she knew this.
However, they also did so much good.
She just couldn't fathom how he could harbor so much hatred towards a group of people who would gladly lay down their lives to keep even one innocent person unharmed. Who would not hesitate to bring justice for the wronged and innocent. Anyone in Fairy Tail would fight tooth and nail, until their very last breath, if by doing so would insure their family's safety.
How could he hate a group of people like that?
}{}{}{
Lahar watched as the petite blonde became lost in her thoughts before him. She seemed to have forgotten what they were doing, or that he was in her presence.
No matter, the longer she could procrastinate in summoning her last Spirit, the better.
In all accounts, he was the most nervous of this Spirit. He was warned on multiple occasions the night prior to watch out for this one, and to maybe bring along a life-jacket. Whatever that meant.
As she dived further down into her inner musings, Lahar was left to wonder what she could possibly be thinking about to produce the facial expressions she was making.
She looked worried, almost fearful, and saddened. By what, he had no inkling of an idea.
But it was beginning to bother him. This mixture of emotion etched on to her features seemed wrong somehow.
In the short time he'd been forced to remain at her side, he had only seen her upset over something once before. That was when she was initially arrested. Afterwards was a mixture of determination, stubbornness, joy, and mirth. Not this downcast look, shadowed eyes, and deep trembling frown.
Therefore, while he did want to stall this final encounter for as long as possible, the uncomfortable feeling tightening his chest propelled him to take action.
"Miss. Heartfilia." He tried, huffing when she did not so much as twitch.
Lahar took a step forward and tried again a little louder. "Miss. Heartfilia."
Once again, there was no reaction or indication that she had heard him.
Irritation clouded judgement for a moment and he took the remaining steps to close the gap between them.
"Lucy!" He all but yelled, jabbing his finger into her ribs.
Brown eyes snapped to his face as she yelped in either surprise or pain, and she slapped his hand away.
"What the hell was that for?" She cried, crossing her arms under her bust.
Lahar resisted the urge to roll his eyes, walking backwards a few steps to stand by the tree he was near before this interruption.
"You seemed to be dozing off and did not react to my calling of your name. I was simply bringing you down from the clouds."
He knew the moment she realized he was right, because her face instantly flushed to a shade of red that uncannily resembled a ripe tomato.
"Oh." She said in surprise. "Sorry. Just thinking about…things."
The green-haired man raised a brow, but remained silent, thankful that she kept her thoughts to herself because he really did not wish to know. That much.
"Right." Lucy cleared her throat, nodding to herself and walked to the river's edge.
The temporary Fairy Tail mage watched in veiled curiosity as she squatted down, leaning forward and sticking the end of a golden key into the water.
The blonde twisted the key in the water as she spoke, voice clear and commanding. "Open, Gate of the Water Bearer- Aquarius!"
A bright blue magic circle erupted around the key as the water began to churn and crash against the banks.
He copied her movements as she scurried back a few steps, confused as to why she was acting so different towards this Spirit when she seemed so laid back with the rest.
Out of a geyser of water an ethereal mermaid rose with a battle cry, swinging an urn high over her head before bringing it back down to hold against her side.
The Spirit was breathtaking. Regal and fierce in her beauty, and the way she held herself told him she was someone to be respected. The way-
"It's about damned time, brat!" She barked harshly to his utter astonishment, her eyes cold and unforgiving.
Her hard expression was enough for even him to gulp and take a few more steps back, but he was surprised to find that Lucy held her head up high.
"I'm so sorry, Aquarius. I-"
"Oh save your crap, brat. I don't want to hear it! How stupid could you be? Getting arrested?! How could you be that reckless, knowing what you could lose?"
Lahar was in shock, watching a Spirit talk back to their master in this way.
The blonde before him tried to remain strong as she was reprimanded, but he could see the way her hands trembled and the way her eyes watered.
"I-I know, and I'm sorry. It-"
"Ungrateful brat! That's not good enough!"
It happened before he could register what was going on. Time seemed to slow down as the mermaid raised her urn.
Lucy looked at him with wide eyes, somehow already wielding the oddest whip he had ever seen. It looked as though it was made up of water and electricity combined, flowing smoothly around his waist tightly just as an enormous body of water slammed into them.
He had just enough time to suck in a deep breath before his head was submerged, and he caught a brief glimpse of Lucy doing the same.
All he could hear was the water roaring around him as they were swept away with the strong current.
Everything was blurry under the water and he could vaguely make out Lucy's figure at the other end of the glowing whip, which he was grasping as tightly as he was able. He was grateful that she had thought of him, because even though he would never admit it aloud, he could not swim.
Just as his lungs started to scream for oxygen, the wave of water abruptly stopped and washed away. The only evidence that it had been there at all were the wet earth and dripping foliage.
Lahar landed in a gasping heap, grunting as something landed heavily across his abdomen.
He lifted his head at the sound of sputtering coughs and found Lucy sprawled on top of him, glaring at her Spirit.
"You good now?" She rasped.
Aquarius shrugged and smirked smugly down at them, but he was taken aback by the affection in her eyes as she looked at her master.
'This Spirit must be bipolar.' He thought to himself in annoyance.
The mermaid shot him a glare as though she had heard him and he gulped, suddenly very afraid that she had.
"Now you listen here, young man. This brat may be ungrateful and nothing but a pain in my tail, but she sure as hell didn't deserve what you did. Think of this little experience as a taste of what will happen if you pull any of that shit again. Understood?" She scolded harshly, and he nodded hastily.
"Tch." She turned her head to look at the blonde on his chest who was still coughing lightly. "Same contract as before, and don't call me for a couple of weeks. I have a date with my boyfriend."
And with that, she disappeared back to her realm.
'Someone is willingly dating that…that…beast?!' He thought in total disbelief.
Lucy deflated on the spot with a sigh, finally having cleared the last of the water from her windpipe, and bringing his attention back to her. Once again she seemed to have gotten lost in her thoughts.
Lahar shifted slightly, fully realizing that he had a soaked, unbelievably attractive, woman on top of him. Her drenched crop top and skirt clung to all of her curves like second skin, and he felt heat rise up the back of his neck all the way to the tips of his ears.
He cleared his throat. "Excuse me?"
Her head lifted and she hummed in question, still half absorbed by her thoughts.
"Would you mind…?" He trailed off, looking pointedly at her.
"Huh?" She glanced around at her surroundings. "Oh!" She squeaked, scrambling off of him and turning red from head to toe.
Lahar sighed, picking himself off of the ground and began the bothersome task of ringing out his hair, which must have come undone while they were being washed away. Thank the Gods that he had spelled his glasses to never fall off unless he intended for them to come off.
She was still sputtering through apologies by the time he was done, and he waved her off. "What's done is done. Now, would you mind retracting your…whip thing? I'd like to return to the apartment and change into a dry set of clothes."
Looking down with wide brown eyes, he watched as she realized that she still had him wrapped up from around the waist and squeaked in embarrassment once more.
Lucy hastily retracted her whip and he watched in slight fascination as it faded away completely, save for the handle, which she attached to her belt next to a normal looking leather whip.
This led to a curiosity all of its own. He truly wondered how she fought with whips of all things, and actually somewhat wanted to see her in action, as whips weren't a common weapon that mages wielded.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he started walking away.
"Um, Lahar?" A small voice called after him and he looked over his shoulder to find her still standing there, dripping on the wet earth.
"Yes?" He asked in slight annoyance. Really he just wanted to change and run a towel through his hair, as he was starting to feel highly uncomfortable and itchy.
"My apartment is that way." She said, pointing in the direction opposite of where he was headed.
Nodding to himself he turned on his heel, quickly walking past her in hopes that she didn't catch the embarrassed flush on his cheeks.
"Right."